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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 6 Julia Reichert, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker behind “American Factory” whose films explored themes of race, class and gender, often in the Midwest, has died. She was 76. She died Thursday night in Ohio from cancer, her family said Friday through a representative. She was diagnosed with stage four urothelial cancer in April 2018. Often called the “godmother of American independent documentaries,” Reichart told the stories of ordinary Americans, from autoworkers dealing with both plant closures (2009's “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”) and foreign investors (2019's “American Factory”), to members of the American Communist Party (1983's “Seeing Red”) to female labor activists in the 1930s (1976's “Union Maids”). In her 50 years of filmmaking, Reichert won two Primetime Emmy Awards and was nominated for four Oscars, winning one with her partner … [Read more...] about Julia Reichert, Oscar-winning documentarian, dies at 76

Edited by Christian Gregory Amistad. 288 pp. $27.99 - - - The many accolades that one might assign to Dick Gregory - pioneering comedian, best-selling author, civil rights activist, even health guru - are more reductive than the man he was. Sure, his appearance on "The Jack Paar Show" in 1961 was a breakthrough for Black entertainers on American television; his work for social justice, which began when he was in high school in the 1940s, helped break down barriers; and his books, more than a dozen, sold millions of copies. Gregory was passionate, effusive, unfiltered. Even in his later years, he seemed to never turn down an opportunity to grab the mic and offer his frank appraisals. ("Anytime you vote for the lesser of two evils, you're evil yourself," he said in a 2016 comment about Donald Trump. "That's how Hitler came to power.") Gregory spent nearly 60 years in public life, touring until his death in 2017 at age 84. He was, pardon the cliche, larger than life. For … [Read more...] about Book World: Dick Gregory was many things. Filtered was not one of them.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 6 HOUSTON (AP) — A 33-year-old man was arrested on a murder charge in the shooting of rapper Takeoff, who police on Friday said was an “innocent bystander” when he was struck by gunfire outside a Houston bowling alley. Patrick Xavier Clark was taken into custody peacefully Thursday night, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said. Clark's arrest came one day after another man was charged in connection with the Nov. 1 shooting, which authorities said followed a dispute over a dice game and wounded two other people. Clark was being held in jail Friday awaiting a bond hearing. Court records do not list an attorney who could speak for him, but indicate he was arrested as he was preparing to leave the country for Mexico. Born Kirsnick Khari Ball, Takeoff was the youngest member of Migos, the Grammy-nominated rap trio from suburban Atlanta that also featured his uncle Quavo … [Read more...] about Man arrested in fatal shooting of Migos rapper Takeoff

As his Formula 1 career faded out with a final retirement, Nicholas Latifi says there was a “lot of frustration and disappointment” since learning of his Williams axing. Although the Canadian showed signs of promise last year, scoring seven points mid-season, he wasn’t able to follow that through in 2022. While his new team-mate Alex Albon progressed into Q2 sessions and scored a few points, Latifi qualified back of the grid after back of the grid. And yet still Williams CEO Jost Capito refused to entertain questions about his future. That came to a head at the Italian Grand Prix when Latifi was out-qualified and out-scored by substitute driver Nyck de Vries, the Dutchman in the points on his debut. He started eighth to Latifi’s P10 but finished P9, the Canadian dropping all the way back to 15th place. The writing was on the wall, Williams announcing before the next race that they would not be renewing Latifi’s contract . While he did manage to score two points in the wake … [Read more...] about Nicholas Latifi’s F1 career petered out in ‘frustration and disappointment’

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 8 NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Downey Jr. set out to make an objective portrait, a tribute to his father, the underground filmmaking maverick Robert Downey Sr. His dad had other plans. “The key point in this is when he goes, ‘OK, I think we should split into two camps: The (expletive) movie and the one I’m gonna make,’” recalls Downey Jr., laughing. “I just go, ‘Man, hats off to you, Pops.” “Sr.,” directed by Chris Smith, is a work of father-son harmony more than might be suggested by Downey Sr.’s typically brusque assertion of filmmaking independence. It’s a kind of home movie, mostly made by Downey Jr. but with his father’s own insertions peppered throughout. It’s a son’s loving reckoning with his iconoclast father, a freewheeling cult filmmaker whose experimental films gave Downey Jr. his entry into moviemaking and whose outsized personality did much to … [Read more...] about Robert Downey Jr. on one last film with his dad, ‘Sr.’

An inveterate networker, Gov. Ned Lamont had a good trip to Washington, D.C. He shared a table at a state dinner Thursday with President Joe Biden’s chief of staff and met Friday with his transportation secretary. “A lot of life is these relationships,” Lamont said in a telephone interview Friday, shortly before boarding a plane to return to Connecticut. “That’s what the last 24 hours has been.” He took his wife, Annie, to the White House dinner honoring the French president , Emmanuel Macron, and his top transportation officials, Joseph J. Giulietti and Garrett Eucalitto, to meet with the secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg. Lamont said the trio made a pitch to Buttigieg about how Connecticut, with an aging infrastructure and a share of one of the nation’s busiest commuter rail systems, can showcase the administration’s investments in transportation. Twitter — GovNedLamont Twitter Connecticut is line for a significant share of billions earmarked for … [Read more...] about Inside Ned Lamont’s trip to the White House, dinner with Biden’s chief of staff and ‘a hell of a lot of fun’

This article was first published on NerdWallet.com . Workers have had a banner year in 2022 — wages are high, employment is strong and job-hopping opportunities are plentiful, a streak that continued through the latest numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Dec. 2. There’s still one more jobs report coming in January to cap off the year, but experts say it’s doubtful anything radical will happen to void this assessment: The labor market is still running hot. “The key takeaway for 2022 is the labor market has lived to fight another month in terms of its tightness and strength,” says Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP Research Institute. When you combine a tight labor market with persistently high inflation and six rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year, it also makes for truly bizarre economic conditions. And another rate hike is expected in December. “The question before us all is whether or not the Fed can bring down inflation without … [Read more...] about Labor Market Kept It Tight in 2022